Case Study, Loss to Restart: Explosion of Process Unit at a Kraft Food Production Facility

摘要

This paper/presentation presents a case study involving an explosion investigation, process safety improvement study and re-start at an Oscar Mayer production facility. On the morning of December 23, 2009, Smokehouse #1 at the Kraft Foods, Coshocton, Ohio plant experienced an explosion. The overpressure injured one employee, damaged the house combustion chamber, production (meat smoking) area, displaced adjacent equipment and caused structural damage. The explosion triggered an evacuation of the plant, response by local fire and EMS crews, multiple media outlets as well as OSHA. The facility’s’ Special Situations Management Team (SSMT) was activated and resources began arriving to the plant to determine what caused the explosion and to get the plant operational as quickly and safely as possible. The facility’s SSMT is composed of various functional leaders in the plant: operations, maintenance, safety, engineering, quality, human resources and the plant manager. In addition to internal resources, a fire science and explosion analysis engineering firm was retained to help coordinate the investigation and recovery process.